Glittering Silence
by Le Redhead Merchant
Summary: The whole group was close-knit. They ate, they laughed, all as a unit. Anna just sat by herself. Anna sat and counted her coins, because her coins were all she had.


_**A/N:** Anna is my favorite Fire Emblem character, for a lot of reasons. I felt like she was really underdeveloped in Awakening because of how they treated the Anna-is-everywhere situation, so, I decided to build a backstory for the one traveling with the Shephards. I felt it was pshycologically unrealistic for every single Anna sister to be obsessed with money and such for absolutely no reason except it was hereditary..._

_I know Anna will be what's considered wildly out of character here. But... You only ever see her perky and optimistic side in the game. The purpose of this fic is to reveal an emotional side to her._

_Anyway, enjoy, and please leave a review if you have suggestions on how I can improve. Nitpickers and flamers welcome_. UwU

I don't own Fire Emblem, blah blahblah.

* * *

Silence. So peaceful and placid, yet full of wrath. Silence can soothe the soul of the weary. Silence can scream the truth.

Silence holds far more than people think it does.

Trying to fill the silence, a lonely merchant let coins fall through her fingers, plinking onto the wood table. The noise filled the worn fabric of her tent. Wish as she might, the silence failed to fill her heart. Her hand froze in place for a few seconds. She closed it. She opened it.

Empty.

Every time she thought she'd had it, she'd finally grasped it, Anna'd open her hand, only to find... nothing. Ever since agreeing to join Chrom and his merry little band of Shepherds, the way they interacted sent her thoughts spinning. It reminded her. It resurfaced memories buried deeply. All of their faces, it just threw it all back in _her_ face.

From Ricken's face, his sweet, innocent eyes that reminded her of her only brother, from Cordelia, a haunting image of the woman she wished she could be. From Sully's attitude, that of the demon that pushed her repeatedly to the dirt, to Vaike, his stupid, optimistic self. All of them brought back demons of her past.

They were a close-knit group; seldom did you see a person by themselves for very long. They ate, laughed, did everything as a group. Anna the merchant, Anna the ghost of her sisters, sat by herself. Anna, the lover of all that glitters and shines, sat and counted her coins, because her coins were all she ever had.

Such is the life of a merchant. You've got nowhere to go, and no home to return to.

She could still remember the days when it wasn't like that. Those were her true golden years; in the end, nothing could've ever been better for her. Anna remembered, her eyelids drooping gently, her hand slowing as it slid gold across her desk. Anna remembered. She sighed, head bending to meet the wood of the small table. Her eyes closed.

_"Hey, squirt! Missing something? Haw haw!" a large, thuggish child waved around a crinkled paper bag. He towered over a petite red-headed girl._

_A tall girl, her face covered in blemishes, stood and smirked next to him. "Oh, wait. Is it your sister's? Or perhaps, your other sister's? It's impossible to tell you wimps apart!" She laughed wickedly._

_The little girl stood her ground. "Maybe if you'd pay attention, you'd be able to!" She yelled back. "And gimme back my lunch!" she jumped and reached for the paper bag, unable to grasp her precious food. She worked hard to put the meal together by herself, since no one else in the family had time to make it. She was a quiet one, and oft forgotten by them._

_The kid just snickered and lifted higher. "Nuh uh! It's mine now, loser!" he sneered. "Here, Edeline, see if it's any good," he said, tossing it to the other bully and walking back to the quaint schoolhouse. _

_She smiled, but it wasn't the good kind of smile. "With pleasure," she replied. The girl rummaged through the handmade lunch, liking what she saw. She looked pointedly at the little girl. "Loser," she let the "L" sound linger on her tongue, extending the word for effect. She walked toward her and abruptly shoved her down. "Have fun in the dirt," she smirked._

_The little girl shouted weakly back, "My name is Anna!" But no one heard. Or, so she thought._

_The next minute went by in a flash as a red haired boy flew by and jumped onto the bully girl. "Don't you act like that to my sister!" he yelled, tackling her to the ground._

_"Ahh!" The girl screamed as loud as she could, alerting the teacher, who hustled over._

_"What in the name of Naga is going on here?" she asked incredulously. She adjusted her spectacles with a sniff._

_"Allan pushed me down again! All I was doing was trading lunch with Anna!" She whined, looking innocent as possible._

_The teacher sighed, rubbing her temples with her fingers. "Allan, you know what we've-"_

_"But Teacher, she was-" Allan protested._

_"No excuses!" the teacher scolded. "You'll be joining me for scrubbing the schoolhouse after school tomorrow, young man. I expect you to take this responsibility, as I am losing patience with you." she huffed, and walked into the schoolhouse._

_The bully laughed, leaving the siblings to their own devices as she skipped away._

_A silence took hold for a few seconds as they looked at each other miserably. __"I'm sorry," they said simultaneously to each other. They laughed despite themselves._

_"I should've stood up for myself more, though," Anna said quietly._

_Allan chuckled and ruffled her hair. "Not a problem. We're always here for each other, right?" He said warmly and looked her in the eye._

_She nodded. "Um..." Anna started to speak. She was unsure whether she could ask more of him. After all, it was her fault he always got in trouble._

_"Hm? What is it?" he inquired, big eyes lighting up with mischief._

_She smiled, deciding it'd be alright. "Can we go to our place now? No one'll notice if we're gone..."_

_"Hah! Do you even have to ask?!" He replied excitedly, taking her hand and sprinting toward a gap in the schoolyard's old, wooden fence. They squished through it and ran into the thick woods, welcomed by the sounds of nature. After treading down a lightly beaten path, they reached a shabby little treehouse. It wasn't thay great, but it was enough. _

_"Ladies first!" Allan straightened himself, one hand behind his back._

_Anna giggled, and clambered up the ladder. "My gratitude, Steward Allan!" She said in a mocking tone. She didn't hear a reply. "Don't be scared! Peasants are welcome here, as always!" She exclaimed, sniffing. Still no reply. "Come on, Allan, don't leave me-" Anna heard a low growl. That wasn't a hungry stomach. Anna stared quivering._

_"Sister, stay calm. Go get someone to help. Don't worry, it'll all be fine." He assured his little sister._

_She started to cry, still in the comfort of the treehouse. The little girl crawled over slowly to the window, daring to peek out. She saw Allan holding a stick, and a mountain lion staring him down aggressively. It was foaming at the mouth._

_"Allan, I'm scared," she whispered, tears starting to trace rivers down her face._

_"Don't cry, I have this," he replied calmly. "Just... Climb out slowly and walk back to the school to get help, okay?"_

_"B-but what if they- sniff- don't believe me?" She asked, barely gettingvthe question out. This was all her fault. If only she hadn't asked, they would never have come out here._

_"No no, they'll believe you. You're really scared, and crying. They couldn't turn down a kid like you." he reasoned._

_She sniffed and nodded her head, forgetting he couldn't see her. For a moment, all that could be heard were the quiet sobs of Anna and the hum of nature. _

_As he waited for a response, the mountain lion growled again, taking a step closer. "U-uh... Easy there... Kitty..." Allan mumbled, holding his stick toward the beast like a valiant hero ready to slay a wyvern._

_Anna took a last look out the window, slowly releasing her grip on the windowsill and lowering her body down to the floor. She timidly grabbed the trapdoor, prying it open with trembling fingers. One leg, followed by the other, she lowered herself down the makeshift ladder. She turned to Allan again. She was about to open her mouth to speak when he turned his head to make sure she was fine. He mouthed something, then snapped his head back to the lion. The beast, agitated by the sudden movements, growled loudly and shifted its weight. The mountain lion pounced._

Anna awoke, breathing heavily. She could feel both cold and warm liquids trickling down her face. She realized she was in a cold sweat, and... Crying. She was crying pretty hard, actually. Wiping her tears from her bloodshot eyes with her thumbs, she stared at the wall of her tent, not really seeing.

It had been a long time since she last had that nightmare, she recalled. Anna kept replaying the sequence in her mind, trying to find if there was anything she could have done. But, in the end, there was nothing. In the moment of silence before the mountain lion leapt, he mouthed something.

In that moment, that... Moment of silence, Anna finally realized what he said. It was so simple. It wasn't something like "I love you," because they already knew they loved each other. He didn't say he was free. He liked life, crappy as it was. Anna knew what he said. He'd told her, his last message as her brother, "You can do it."

_You can do it.  
_

Anna sat and pondered. Her brother had always believed in her; after all those years of dreading becoming a merchant, dreading being accompanied by the cold sound of gold clinking in her pockets, Anna gave up on her dreams. She always knew that her dreams would fade.

But, even when fate seemed inevitable, Allan always believed she could make her dreams happen. Anna reached across her desk and grabbed a notebook. Flipping to a certain page, she held it away from her face, so as not to get tears on it. "Don't wanna drip all over _you_," she whispered softly. Anna gazed at the skillfully drawn picture. The graceful lines on the page were woven together to create a picture of two delicate dancing shoes.

She traced the lines with her fingertips, sighing. Broken dreams. Broken heart. Broken soul. That's what her life was. Broken. Silent. "Not to mention lonely," she said in a tone barely audible.

The shoes... She still kept those in a bag somewhere. They'd always be a sort of sacred object for her. She'd remember. And whenever she remembered, she knew it would be heartwrenching. But now, Anna knew that someone, though she couldn't see them, never wanted her to give up on her dreams. She closed the book, sliding it back to its place on the desk.

She cradled her head in her hands and sighed. Still feeling tears run down her face, she sniffed. Anna felt pitiful. Her face felt hot, and her thoughts were racing so fast they mixed together. Why couldn't she just stop thinking? Her head felt like it would explode when someone swooshed the tent flap open.

"Hey Jingles, you comin to dinner? Because... Oh, uh..." Gaius's smooth voice trailed off as he noticed Anna holding her head between her palms. Anna hadn't even noticed he walked in. "This a bad time...?" He asked, taking his lollipop out of his mouth and twilrling it between his fingers.

Anna jumped and turned around quickly, staring at Gaius with red, teary eyes. "Do you mind?! Kinda having a sentimental moment here!" she snapped.

"Looked more like a mental breakdown to me, but, okay," he responded.

Anna frowned at him.

Okay, Gaius felt a little bad. "Sorry for intruding, then," he said curtly, and turned to leave.

"Wait!" she pleaded. "You didn't deserve that. I'm just..." she sighed.

Gaius turned back around. "What? In a bad mood? Didn't notice," he chuckled. He wondered where she always went by herself when they all sat to eat. After Emmeryn took her fall, Chrom and Lissa seemed to try and reach out to every comrade. So... Did she sit there in her tent like that? Now, that was no way to live, rich or poor.

She glared at him again. "Look, I... I'll be out in a few minutes, alright? And..." Anna paused a moment, gathering courage. She didn't care if she was denied, or left alone again. She had to try. "You better make room for me at the campsite, bud," she told him. Anna tilted her head up.

He laughed. "Well, finally. I'll tell the others you ran out of coins to count for the night. Meet me by the fire outside the kitchen tent, I'll save you a seat," he chuckled, exiting the tent and popping the candy back in his mouth.

After all that time._ "Finally."_

_Had he believed too? _

Anna sat and finally felt like her eyes were open. She wasn't alone. Her memories just made her feel like it. She remembered how she and the ginger thief often argued over nothing, but always made up in the end. Nothing could take away the thrill of playing jokes on people with Lissa. Even Chrom had talked to her a few times. Chrom was a true hero, someone Anna wished she could be. She remembered her polite chats with Sully and Sumia over tea. Anna remembered.

That silence that Anna heard right then was a silence holding truth. She stood up. She swept all the coins into her wallet, throwing it across the tent. She'd walk right up to everyone. Even if they rejected her, she knew there were still some who wouldn't. And they were enough.

* * *

_This is the product of my boredom. I hope the fluffy ending didn't make anyone mad :V welp, hope you enjoyed!_


End file.
